This is the journal of Sophia [Sophie] Margaret Elizabeth Jane Clementine FitzOsborne, begun this twenty-third day of October, 1936, on the occasion of her sixteenth birthday (title page).

A Brief History of Montmaray is a fictional, first-person, historical adventure story that, in the form of a dairy, tells of the life-changing events over three months in the late-30s. With murder, mayhem, and myth, life is never dull for Princess Sophie and the royal FitzOsborne family living on the isolated, rundown island of Montmaray.

16-year-old Sophie lives in the ramshackle castle with her younger sister Henry (Henrietta), a tomboy and "Force of Nature" (12), 17-year-old cousin Veronica, princess and acting head of the household, and Carlos, a Portuguese water dog and beloved member of the family. Veronica is passionate about politics and history, while Sophie is more fascinated by the romantic, and Henry would rather be playing hopscotch. Together, they must contend with Uncle John, Veronica's father and King of Montmaray, a mad, feeble shut-in who suffers from mental illness brought on by the stress and guilt of war.

Rebecca the housekeeper, is a bitter woman who cares more about looking after King John than the children. Sophie has sporadic visits from her older brother Toby, who is the heir to the Montmaray throne, and is studying abroad, and Simon Chester, Rebecca's son who now works in London as a clerk for the family's solicitor and is Toby's closest friend. Apart from these interuptions and the occasional letter from their Aunt Charlotte, an authoritative socialite, guardian, and the "only proper grown up left to look after" them (10) who lives in England and helps to finance life on Montmaray, Sophie and Veronica are pretty much left to look after themselves and their sovereign territory.

A small, isolated island in the middle of the Bay of Biscay half way between France and Spain, Montmaray is the only world Sophie has ever known. The castle, with no electricity and a leaking roof, is cut off from the rest of the island by a perilous Chasm that can only be crossed by a rickety drawbridge. With abandoned cottages and grim memorial cross, the the Green, where bonfires are made at Midsummer, the Great Pool, and the imposing cliffs where they sink lobster pots, this is Sophie's home. The year-round torrential rain, jagged shoreline, and treacherous currents mean that large ships are unable to dock at the island, therefore the FitzOsbornes have lived for centuries in relative isolation from the rest of the world. Life on Montmaray isn't always easy, but they make the best of it.

Sophie thinks Montmaray, while important to her royal family, is of no importance to the outside world (159). The most she has ever had to worry about is whether to leave her beloved Montmaray to make her début into society in England in order to find a husband and get married. Her life consists of helping to clean the shabby castle, looking after the family when they get sick, waiting for supplies and letters from passing ships, and writing in her diary.

After the last villagers leave Montmaray for a more secure life on the mainland, the FitzOsbornes find themselves even more isolated, and life begins to change. Talk of war in Spain, and mounting pressure to choose sides see Sophie and her family caught up in world events, especially when two uninvited German soldiers trespass on their land; Sophie soon realises life will never be the same again.

As a narrator, Sophie is far from reliable. Her view is often skewed and she considers herself dull compared to others, and not pretty or strong-willed or talented (12), a princess from an "impoverished and inconsequential island kingdom that is miles from anywhere" (13). She cannot remember the date, and considers her diary entries to be "subjective and rambling" (20). However, despite Sophie's fanciful record of events-from dealing with family matters, a crush on Simon Chester, nightmarish visions of the thing in the water, and the ghost in the Blue Room, through to dealing with death and murder-her accounts always ring true. Sophie relates the events around her with the best of intentions, showing the intricacy of her character and the changes in her thoughts and perception as she matures over this short period of time to become, what she calls, "sensible" (222).

Author Michelle Cooper, a speech pathologist specialising in learning disabilities, is passionate about encouraging children and teenagers to be interested in books, and giving them an opportunity to discuss numerous issues. This is certainly evident in A Brief History of Montmaray, which touches on a number of adult issues such as feminism, homosexuality, sex, mental illness, and murder, as well as politics and history including fascism, communism, and the Nazis regime; historical figures such as Freud, Marx, Hitler, Mussolini, and others also make an appearance, along with stories about The Holy Grail. However, these issues are dealt with in such a way as not to be sensationalist, but a part of Sophie's life lessons.

This novel is also infused with literary references and quotes from poems, plays, and other works by authors such as William Shakespeare, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Edward Lear, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens, exposing the reader to a wide variety of ideas and concepts. Discussion questions on the nature of truth and history, the position of women in society, and human values are also provided at the back of this book, making A Brief History of Montmaray an ideal classroom reader that will provoke an interesting conversation in any group of readers.Unfortunately, the end of this novel leaves a number of aspects unresolved, and readers who appreciate closure may be disappointed. But, as this book is meant to be a "brief history" dealing with less than a three-month period from late-October 1936 to mid-January 1937, it is to be expected that the story end mid-life, with many questions going unanswered and a number of issues unresolved.

A Brief History of Montmaray is part-history, part-tragedy, and part-romanticisation, and is a delightful coming-of-age story that blends the past with imagination. This story will appeal to anyone with a taste for history or a calling for adventure.


A Brief History of Montmaray
(2008)

by Michelle Cooper
Random House Australia
ISBN: 9781741663228
286pp AUD$17.95